If people in the West could only put themselves into the minds of the world's Muslims, much of the present antagonism would be alleviated. According to this op-ed article from France's Le Figaro newspaper, the West has occupied their lands, approved of the dictatorships that oppress them, and in Palestine, for example, has imposed a 'democracy' that isn't really democracy at all.

'Iraqis and Palestinians Say to Arabs and Muslims:
It's enough to Boycott Their Products.
No More Violence Please.' [Alquds Alarbi, U.K.] (below).

I would
like to raise three issues. First a warning: the gap is widening. These
caricatures prove how sensitive this subject is, and how much the gap between
our two cultures, our two civilizations, our two worlds, is growing. It is
necessary for our Western friends to understand how Arabs and Muslims think.

Here are
some clues: not only do "they" occupy our lands just as they did in
the 19th century, which means militarily and physically "they" with
all of the simplification and lumping that the word implies; not only do "they"
approve of the dictatorships that have oppressed us ever since so-called
independence, not only do "they" plunder our resources, not only do "they"
impose their democracies à la Iraq, but when the Palestinians express the will
to be free and autonomous, "they" say: "Stop right there! We don't want that democracy." And now
"they" are attacking what is most sacred to "us."

On the
same subject:

-Freedom
of expression and responsibility

-The double
Citadel effect

-Debate
over caricatures of Mohammed

-The
shock of ignorance

-Impressions,
bd Voltaire

As an
Arab living in the Western world, I can also understand what is going on in the
minds of Westerners. Not only do "they" attack New York, Madrid and
London, not only do "they" invade our countries - the word "they"
still filled with the same lumping and simplification - and now "they"
are attacking our most sacred value, the one we've been fighting for for centuries: freedom of speech.

My second
warning is this: there is no reason to believe it will stop. Unfortunately, we
are heading more and more toward what looks like a confrontation of
civilizations. This caricature story is being widely exploited by our
dictatorships. For example, I am aghast and totally flabbergasted when I see
the Secretaries of the Interior of Arab countries (the only inter-Arab
institution that works) leap to the defense of Mohammed. But how many Mohammeds
have they killed themselves, how many have been tortured to death in their
prisons? How many Mohammeds are being blackmailed?

But on
the other side too, there's a manipulation organized by racists and agitators, like
the actions we have seen recently in the Western world using this issue to
raise the stakes; and there might also be manipulations by Western governments
themselves, just like the Bush Administration, which is currently using the
story to get the advantage over Iran and Syria.

The third
and final warning: what is ahead of us, us Western and Arab human rights'
activists, is an extremely difficult task. I sometimes
wonder if we are capable of stopping this tsunami, or if we are going to have
to rebuild over the ruins; but in any case, we have the obligation to take
action, we have the obligation to intervene, since we are not from two
different cultures, two types of different systems of values, but a single and
unique system of values: we both believe in human rights and we all believe in
universality. And we can only build bridges by refusing to sully this sacred
aura. We can start healing this wound by refusing to lump Westerners with a
totally irresponsible newspaper and by refusing to lump together Islam and
Muslims with people who blow themselves up.

But let's
not get ahead of ourselves, the subject will remain sensitive as long as the root
problems - long run political problems - continue unresolved. First, an end to the
martyrdom of the Palestinian people; second, an end to the occupation of Iraq
and Afghanistan; third, an end to the support of Western democracies for the
dictatorships oppressing, humiliating and leaving us in that state of
frustration, false solutions, and the vicious cycle of failure, which is partly
to blame for this outburst of terrorism.

Moncef
Marzouki is a Tunisian writer and professor, and a former candidate at the
Tunisian Presidential elections.